Millwall to beat Blackburn Rovers in transfer race for Cardiff City outcast | OneFootball

Ryan Wintle is finally set to seal a long-awaited Cardiff City exit by joining Millwall on loan after earning interest from other Championship clubs

Cardiff City's Ryan Wintle is poised to sign for Millwall on a season-long loan deal ahead of both Blackburn Rovers and Stoke City, who had both expressed an initial interest in acquiring the midfield outcast.

The latest development in Wintle's immediate future comes via a Wednesday morning report from Richard Cawley of the South London Press, where it has been revealed that the 27-year-old is set to head to Millwall today to undertake medical proceedings and pen a season-long loan with Neil Harris' side.

Wintle has been set to leave the Cardiff City Stadium this summer after being exiled by Erol Bulut, who has been eager to move the player on elsewhere despite his status as a first-team regular over the last three seasons.

The midfielder signed for Cardiff in the summer of 2021 from Crewe Alexandra and has gone on to become a frequent fixture in the Welsh capital after returning following an immediate loan spell at Blackpool, making more than 40 appearances in each of the last two Championship campaigns but none thus far.

However, Cardiff have signed Alex Robertson from Manchester City to bolster their midfield and Wintle is now set to represent Millwall's latest transfer capture after the arrivals of Macaulay Langstaff, Japhet Tanganga, Lukas Jensen, Liam Roberts and most recently both Femi Azeez and Daniel Kelly.

Millwall set to sign Cardiff City's Ryan Wintle

Cawley's recent report confirms the breakthrough in negotiations between the two parties, as Millwall's interest in Wintle was first called by WalesOnline's Bluebirds correspondent Glen Williams last week. The report from Williams indicated potential competition from undisclosed Championship rivals, although both Blackburn and Stoke City had been linked with the Cardiff outcast.

As reported by Darren Witcoop, the two sides had each shown an "initial" interest in capitalising upon Wintle's situation in South Wales.

Blackburn and Stoke are yet to bring in midfield arrivals this summer but have seemingly set their sights elsewhere, with Wintle now closing in on a switch to The Den after being urged by Bluebirds boss Bulut to accept the offers on the table.

It is not clear whether said offers were forthcoming from the sides of John Eustace and Steven Schumacher as a follow-up on their initial admiration of Wintle, but it appears as though one likely came from Millwall.

Bulut recently said of Wintle: "They [other clubs] are interested. But on his side, he and his agent have to make a decision.

"I know that they have interest but the decision should be on their side. They have to make a decision quick.

"How I know from him last season he wants to play every minute and they are losing time, because he wants to play. They have to move on because he wants to play."

Indeed, that decision has since been made following a summer of speculation and a significant twist to Wintle's tenure at Cardiff. He made 42 appearances in the division under Bulut last term but was exiled from the club's pre-season tour of Austria and made available for transfer, with a permanent exit having appeared the most likely course of action to begin with.

As such, it has not yet been disclosed whether Millwall will have the option to exercise the permanent arrival following the completion of his loan move in South London, though such a development would really come as little surprise given the state of play between himself and Bulut.

The German-born Turkish boss first spoke of his intentions to move Wintle on back in July, telling BBC Sport Wales: "I was clear that I am not planning with him this season. Ryan is a good player and is a player who wants to play every single minute.

“So I think there we had our problems. With a team existing on 27, 28 players, sometimes a manager has to rotate and I think the players have to accept that. I think there we had our issues a little bit.

"He is a good player and for sure he will have offers where he can sign a contract and can continue with his career."

Cardiff City's Ryan Wintle could be an awkward fit at Millwall

Wintle's finest hour at Cardiff came under, coincidentally enough, ex-Lions talisman Steve Morison, who deployed a strict and intricate possession-based playing style and utilised the midfielder as the quarterback of sorts in his system.

For a time, Wintle was perhaps Cardiff's most important player as Morison looked to direct possession his way at all times and allow the ex-Crewe man to dictate the tempo of matches with his ability to spray cross-field diagonal passes.

Indeed, Wintle's importance and rich form under Morison's tuition had led supporters at the time to express concern about the club's ability to hold on to the player, which presents a rather stark contrast to his current standing in Wales.

Ability does not simply disappear and Wintle still has plenty to offer, but he has earned more recent criticism for being rather pedestrian, passive and overly-patient in possession across recent times and it is difficult to envisage how that stylistic consideration aligns with Harris' optimally-direct strategy of playing the game.

Harris demands the ball to be moved forward quickly and aggressively, which is exactly what Wintle has been criticised for by certain factions of the Cardiff fanbase. His style often sees the ball played out wide to the byline too, and technical, less-aggressive-minded midfielders such as Wintle simply do not fit that.

To a lesser extent, the same is likely true up at Blackburn Rovers and Wintle perhaps would not have been an ideal fit for Eustace either, although he is somewhat more progressive in his tactical set-up than Harris.

Meanwhile, Schumacher's developing style at Stoke - where Wintle himself hails from - would have represented a better fit than Blackburn's and that of Millwall especially, but there will be reasons why that move never materialised.

As far as Cardiff are concerned, it has to be seen as something of a positive to get Wintle off the books given he simply was not going to feature for Bulut, although supporters were pining for a permanent exit and will be asking questions as to why, for now at least, that has not proved the case.